Callie's Captors [Mountain Men(46)
“I expect you to treat him with the same respect you treat everything and everyone else.” She tossed her hair back over her shoulders. “I expect you to help him.”
“He’s one of them,” added Raine as though that would sway her.
“Tell me, Raine, what if it was something else down here? Like maybe a deer or a wolf? Would you leave it to starve to death?”
“That’s not the same thing. Deer and wolves aren’t our sworn enemies.”
“So you’d help them? And who says The Cursed are your enemies? So far, I haven’t seen them do anything to you.”
Pete held up his hand to his brother. “You haven’t been around long enough to know. They’ve attacked our people, even killed them. What else would you call them except enemies?”
She turned to Scrunch and Pete hoped she was starting to see the creature through clear eyes. But his hope died when she faced him again. Her clenched jaw told him that her determination had grown even stronger.
“What if they want a truce? What if it’s time for peace?”
“Shit. Our mate is fucking delusional,” muttered Blue.
Pete shot Blue a stern warning to keep him quiet. “That’s not the case.”
“You don’t know that.” She crossed her arms. “What if Scrunch trying to contact me is a first step? What if he’s trying to connect with me? With everyone?”
Blue scowled. “You’re a dreamer if ever I heard one.”
“But what if she’s right?” Pete could feel the wrath of Blue’s anger as he turned on him. “Take it easy, bro. I’m only asking. After all, they haven’t done much to bother us lately.”
“That’s because they don’t have Burac to lead them.” Blue stalked to the other side of the hole. “Trust me. They’ll strike again.”
Blue was probably right. But if so, why was Scrunch trying to contact Callie? If he’d wanted, he could’ve easily taken her.
“We’re wasting time, guys. Prove that you care about me. What’s it going to be? Are you going to help us or not?”
“Kill it.”
Pete pivoted in sync with his brothers to find Wesley, one of the many werewolves in The Hidden, striding toward the pit along with two other werewolves.
“How’d you know we were here?”
“Tina saw Callie and that thing and asked us to see what was going on.” He peered at Callie. “Has it bitten her?”
Pete’s mouth was open, ready to say anything except the truth when Callie offered it up instead.
“He hasn’t and he’s not going to. He’s my…friend.” She darted her gaze away only to bring it back. “And why are you people running around butt-naked?”
Wesley’s black eyes filled with amber. “She’s kidding, right? Or is she off in the head?” He made a circling motion in the air next to his head, the universal sign for mental illness.
“She’s neither one. She and Scrunch are…okay with each other.” Pete planted his feet apart, ready for their reaction.
“Are you saying she’s made friends with it?”
Mikea, Wesley’s co-mate with Shira, snorted. “You can’t make friends with those things. What are we waiting for? The Cursed made the pits to catch animals and even some of us. It’s only right that one of them dies there.”
“I agree. Let’s get it.” Shira, a small, yet fierce werewolf, snarled, bringing out her fangs as she started shifting.
“Our mate’s right.” Wesley followed her, the sound of his bones breaking and reforming making an accompaniment to the noise Shira’s bones made.
Mikea growled and shifted his attention from Pete to a horrified-looking Callie. “You haven’t told her yet, have you? I’m sorry about jumping the gun, guys, but my mates are right. We’re taking that thing out of this world and sending it straight to hell.”
Less than a minute later, the three had shifted into their werewolf bodies. They split up, each pacing to a side of the pit.
“Oh, my God.”
Pete hated to see the fear on her face. What The Cursed hadn’t done, their friends had. They’d terrified their mate.
She backed up as Scrunch snarled, baring his fangs, his red eyes hooked on the wolves above. “Guys, run while you can. Get away.”
Her eyes grew as realization hit her. “They’re like the ones that surrounded me in the other hole. Holy shit, they’re werewolves. Please run, Pete!”
“This wasn’t the way she was supposed to find out.” Blue slid beside him.
“No, but it’s the way she did and we have to deal with it. After we decide if we’re going to let Wesley and his mates take the thing.”